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Hangola January 31 - February 2, 2004

Flight Reports

Went to Woodstock. Sherpa/driver and I lugged the stuff up the back. Got to the launch at 11A, where there was no wind, and 6 inches of snow. Decided there will be another day. No need to try a no-wind launch with slippery conditions, and had to get back early. Had some time to burn, so drove over to Smithsburg to catch Eddie Miller breaking down after 6 flights. Wave clouds galore in the Hagerstown valley at 2:30P.

Bacil

Tom, Gary and I went to High Rock. Winds were west cross at 9 to 18 till about two when it seemed to quiet down. I launched is a light cycle and beamed up expecting Gary and Tom to follow shortly as it had lightened up a lot. But the break in the winds was short and it picked up so that it was an hour and half before Gary could get off. I finally figured out what was happening and landed so I could go back and get Tom off. Unforturnately it was late 4:30 by then so Tom only had a short flight. I lucked out and got 1+40 for the day and a no stepper for the landing. Snow was a bit deep in the LZ. Temperature 20 degrees and below. Beautiful day.

Joe

In a word... Boo-W-a-h.
Met up with Doug at some pizza joint and rode up to Lizzy in his 4x4 as we were expecting Colorado-deep powder and no flying. Turns out the road was plowed in the front and snomobile-packed-down up top. They'll say 4x4, I'll say 4x4 or chains. Not really deep stuff, but true powder (as opposed to packed powder), so it was slippy-slidy stuff.

Launch was a beautiful site. STFI@15. Lennies sliding off the north facing ridges. Warmer than I expected. Snow on launch wasn't deep enough or slippery enough to warrent shovelling. We went straight to setting up. Soon after Clint arrived followed by some packs of snomobilers. We shot the breeze with them for a while as we finished prepping our wings.

Doug launched first, stepping off and hitting the express elevator. Um, I think it's soarable as hell. I tripped off launch next and took the local. Thanks again to Clint for helping us both launch safely. The first grand over launch easy, the second was absolutely brainless. You could drive around at will. Nice cores were rolling through in addition to the widespread lift. Sure there was sink, some strong, but there were so many elevators that it didn't matter. Winds aloft were strongish, but not silly. Oh yeah... that "widespread lift".... I let Doug tell ya more, but can you say WAVE? :-D
Oh yeah.
Riding the wave at Lizzy!

Some ugly stuff started developing to the west so we headed out, both landing in the big field. Winds on the ground were 10ish so it was nice to have a nice big open field (read: no rotor). Clint came by and gave us a ride back to launch. We all went back to the pizza joint and savored the day.

Life is good.
Jim

Driving to launch is like Jim Said meant for the experienced chain equipped individual, but 4X4 is necessary to make it safely. On the way to launch I passed 11 Snowmobiles. At launch we should have charged a parking fee at times the area was covered with snowmobiles and two stayed and one asked for my name and info about the club and I think he is seriously interested in taking up the sport. He resides near Jonestown ( Lebanon County) which is not to far from the sites.

A Ferocious Dog came to attack Doug and Jim while they were breaking down but I threw a rock and kept the beast busy. He was then nick named Rock Dog. (also has a bladder problem and goes everywhere even on you if your not careful)

Doug made one correct statement if we get another deep snow, it may not be possible to access Lizzyville till we get some warmer temps.

Boo Wah

Clint

After a last minute decision to go see Ole Ma Rtown we found her pleased as punch to see us, flashing a STFI@18 smile as only she can do. A quick setup and no step launch put me right at 500 above. The 4 of us were all rewarded with boat around ridge lift filled with lite thermals to about 1K above. All good launchs and landings with about 1 hour times. We left Ma about dusk in time to get home for the snore bowl. Ma sure must've been glad to see us, she was still smiling STFI when we left. TR, Jess, Glen R and Myself....Bob.

Actually...it wasn't "that" cold but...it was rather brisk. But...schlepping thru the snow warmed things up and the winds were awesome today. Smooth, steady and mostly straight in at 10mph. Dave Knight flew flawlessly after a 6 week layoff and should be getting closer to his H-2 very soon.

Rich "hey...it was cold out there...." Hays

Just talked to my son who skiied L.G. today. He said a couple guys flew HG's there till dark.

The rain finally stopped but today started with heavy fog and then low clouds not breaking up until about 2:00. Temps were really sweet, though, so around 3:00 I decided to set up and have a sled just to enjoy the sun that had finally shown up. Lisa towed me up between some low and flat clouds and I was pleasantly surprised to find light lift along the upwind edge of these guys. Managed to hold on for 35 minutes before it shut down. Always nice to get an unexpected gift.

The next several days look pretty good so hopefully we'll have more exciting stories to tell soon.

Paul

Great to hear you all got some nice airtime sunday. I totally missed that call myself or I would have been out bright and early to cash in on the beautiful sunday weather. We did get in some wave saturday at Elizabethville that was quite cool. Right before I launched I noticed the lenticular clouds lining up and as far as you could see to the northwest. I bet Raven's Haven would have been kickin ass. I took off and climbed to 1k in smooth 500fpm lift. Once I got to 1k I kept working my way to the front edge of the lenny and the lift got better. After I worked my way up to 1500' I could start to feel the Ice crystals hitting my face that were floating down from the cloud. I got into the best lift just about the time I reached the very front edge of the cloud, somewhere just the back side of the north facing ridge which is past the primary L/Z. The lift turned on really nice and smooth. I was flying along the front edge of the cloud almost like I was ridge soaring from the left to the right. I started to think about all the possibilities of maybe flyin to the river or into the next valley. But then I noticed the blue area between my lenny and the upwind lenny was rapidly closing in with cloud. So now all of sudden after working to get in the wave now I'm trying to get away from it. I pulled full vg and flew with the bar just about my navel and I was still going up. I did feel comfortable knowing what was going on and was pretty sure if I just kept flying upwind I would start to fall of the front edge. And that is exactly what happened. After losing a thousand feet I drifted down the valley and landed in the alternate L/Z. Thanks Clint for pickin us up and taking us back to the truck. Lets hope there is some kinda pattern settin up here and this weekend will bring the same stellar weather.

Doug.

Shucks. that is really too bad. He is seriously injured. Guess we should have added a "but please be careful" to all the "kill 'em dude" cheering. And maybe sent him a copy of Mitch Shipley's article on the Dark Side. Not worth it Kev. New Cheer: Get well Kev!

ps I am back from california where it was absolutely beautiful for 29 of the 30 days (one cloudy day -- cleared up at 4 pm) I was there and it was flyable every day (even the two days that looked blown out were flyable), highs in the 60s. Annnd it looks like Weds might be good at the Stocker. Any takers?

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This page last updated February 2, 2004